A Small Touch
by Nez Sum
Summary: There was something about Akane’s fingers softly grazing his knuckles that interested Ranma more than it should have. It was just a small touch. Simple fluff, set early in the series.


**A SMALL TOUCH**

There was something about Akane's fingers softly grazing his knuckles to take the pencil that shocked and interested Ranma more than it should have. It was just a small touch. Nothing like the way Shampoo wrapped her arms around him. Body willingly pressing deep into his chest while eyes came up to look at him with affection…It'd be too much to ask Akane to do that to him…If she would ever want to, that is…

Stupid tomboy, he mulled. His luck that he'd be stuck with a fiancée who had zero sex appeal. Glaring at her, Ranma considered voicing Akane's inferiority to relieve his repressed emotions but, watching Akane smile softly and hum to herself as she did her homework made being vengeful impossible. For now. Pressing his chin into his palm instead, Ranma Saotome continued to stare the girl down unnoticed.

Okay. So she was cute, he admitted. The way her short hair fell softly against her cheek. The way she pouted when she didn't understand a problem. Even the fierce look of determination and concentration that came with doing math homework was appealing to him. But what good was her looking cute going to do for him? Or him thinking she was cute?

Wasted, he thought. She exhausted all her cute looks for homework…..and P-chan…

Annoyed by her extremely bad preferences--which happened to not include him--Ranma began pressing the eraser of his pencil into Akane's right temple.

Smile dropping after the fifth consecutive poke, Akane flicked her eyes in his direction.

"What?"

"Nothin'."

Poke

Poke

Poke

"Ranma!"

"What?"

Poke

Poke

Poke

"I'm trying to do my homework!" she cried. "You're ruining my concentration!"

Sticking his tongue out, Ranma continued poking her lightly until---

"Ranma!" Her teeth pressed together, arm swinging out to brush the pencil away. Ranma expertly caught her wrist with his free hand and grinned in his success. Ha! An interaction! Akane even made a second whack at him, presenting him with another small wrist to hold but…Somehow, when he was holding her back like this he didn't get the same bone shocking sensation as he had the moment before.

Uninterested in this contact, Ranma tossed her wrists away with a impassive sigh.

"What was that all about?" she muttered as she picked up her pencil again. "Honestly, I don't understand a thing you do sometimes…." Her eyes switched to his face. "You should be finishing your homework too, Baka. Not staring at me like some pervert."

"W-Who--Who'd want to stare at someone as boring as you?!" he snapped as his cheeks rose in a flush.

"If that's the case then stop staring!"

"How do you know I'm staring if you're not watching me?!" he challenged.

"Because I can feel your creepy perverted eyes on me! That's why!"

"Hmph." Dropping his chin to his palm once more, Ranma took up staring again just to annoy her. Akane grew red in the face as he did, even turned her back on him, but she kept to her homework, obviously determined not to take notice of his imposing gaze. Which, in turn, bugged the hell out of Ranma. So, he was easy to ignore was he?

Leaning forward as close as he could get to Akane without actually touching her, Ranma craned his neck over her shoulder as she wrote down the next equation. He meant to start annoying her but when his eyes drew up to her tinted pink cheeks and anxious brown eyes, the insults were ripped away. The stupid girl even looked cute when she was angry at him. Which was why it was such a damn shame that Akane didn't want to be close to him like this, and that because she was so sexless, he had to do all the damned work in this stupid relationship.

Wait.

---Relationship?

Since when had he ever even considered them to be anything more than….than….hell, he didn't even know what they were! But not---no---not….not that he would mind if…if she…No, but he was grimly certain that Akane wouldn't like it. Anyways, it's not that he wanted that sort of thing right this moment. Or from her. He was just asking for one simple touch…

"You better not be copying me, Ranma." Pressing her palm right up into his face, Akane angrily forced his head back. "Our teacher already knows my work from yours. You'll get us both in trouble if you do."

"Why would I want to copy you?"

"Because you failed the last three tests and you're in the bottom of the class," she said briskly. "Why else would you be looking over my shoulder?"

"…Yeah, why else, I wonder…" he said to himself.

That touch still didn't feel the same, he thought as Akane's palm left his face. It's not that he wanted to have Akane's body pressed to his all the time or anything perverted like that. All he wanted was to get_ that_ feeling. And somehow, it was only a tiny touch from Akane that was able to produce it.

Fine. If she wasn't going to give it to him, then he would just have to take it! Since when did Ranma Saotome ever have to wait to get what he wanted?! Hell if he would let Akane get away with this!

"N-Now what are you up to?" she demanded as he held out his hand under her nose. "I already told you I'm not going to help you cheat!"

His scrunched his face up, but his eyes were unwavering. "Let me see your hand."

She quickly held both hands to her chest, glaring.

"I just want to see it." She glanced at the open palm with suspicion. "Geez, don't be such a sissy. I won't do anything to you."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Good. Then give me your hand."

After nervously flickering her eyes to the doorway, she hurriedly slapped her hand into his. "There. Happy?"

Tightly squeezing her small hand against his palm, Ranma watched with great attention as their fingers laced together. Hand tensing up, face coloring, Akane said his name very quietly but Ranma didn't respond or notice her because when their hands meet he felt…

Nothing.

….Nothing?

Nothing!!!! Gah!!! Stupid, uncute Akane! Even holding her hand like this, he felt nothing!

Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane. Stupid, Akane.

Stupid, Akane!

"Ranma?"

Tossing her hand, Ranma irritably picked up his pencil and began his homework at last. Damnit, Akane, he thought. Why the hell does it have to be up to you in order me to feel _that_ way?! The most infuriating part was that Ranma knew that Akane had this pull over him. This indescribably utterly infuriating but terribly addicting hold on him that he not only could do nothing to control, but that he had no desire stop.

Knowing all this didn't negate his anger, though. What good was it to feel something about someone if you couldn't say it anyways? If he told Akane that he wanted her to…to….

_Ah! So you do love me, Ranma!? And you want to marry me too?! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

No way! No way! No way!

No way would he give her that satisfaction!

And _that_ had absolutely NOTHING to do with _this_!

RIPPPP.

Ranma blinked down in confusion at his homework page. Too preoccupied with Akane's uncute nature, he hadn't noticed how hard he had been writing and erasing. The page was all torn up in the center and there wasn't a single character that was readable.

"Baka." Ranma jumped in surprise when Akane's fingers grasped his hand. "You're so impatient…"

Akane immediately set to work cleaning up his page. As she told him he really had to stop being a perverted idiot and pay attention to what he was doing, Ranma noticed her side slowly sinking into his arm. Was it an accident? A mistake? At first it was just her arm brushing against his elbow to write, but as soon he pulled his arm away Ranma could feel Akane's whole side pressing firmly against his body.

Dramatic tears of glory lit his eyes.

Victory.

That inexpressible sensation had washed over him again, horribly addicting and utterly confusing, leaving Ranma's whole body flushed and tense. And the best part was that Akane came to him! The way she was leaning into him was almost like a plead for him to accept her advances! Yes! And why wouldn't she want him?! It was obvious that she did, he thought to himself. Who wouldn't?

"Ranma." She pulled on his braid. "Are you even listening to me?"

"It's alright." He patted Akane on the back with a sigh of understanding.

"What is?"

"I knew you couldn't resist me in the end," he told her sympathetically.

"…Resist you?" she repeated, voice breaking up in irritation.

"It must be hard for you being so attracted to me."

"Who would be stupid enough to be attracted to a jerk like you?!"

"You don't have to do this sort of thing to get close to me, Akane. There's no need to be shy about it!" he told her, smiling. "All you have to say is 'Ranma-sama! You're so manly! Let me be close to you!' and I'll allow it."

"Oh?" She grinned. "Is that all?"

"Yup."

"Ranma-sama?"

"Hmm?"

Table having flattened him to the ground, Ranma watched from beneath his scattered homework pages as Akane picked up her things and left the room in a violent flush that matched his own red face.

Ranma sighed dramatically. How sad. That stupid tomboy would never admit to herself how much she liked him….


End file.
